Chapter 706: The Mosaic Parts Can't Be Seen

Sun Xixi was also startled by this thing's words.

An Anomaly wanted to go back with them to a human settlement?

Wouldn't the base descend into complete chaos?

Just as Sun Xixi was racking her brain for a way to refuse, the Anomaly across from them let out a tittering laugh.

"Hehe... I know exactly what you're thinking!"

"For someone like me, hiding my aura isn't actually that difficult."

As it spoke.

The thing that had been lurking in the half-lit, half-shadowed environment slowly stepped forward.

Everyone instinctively backed away, the uneasy feeling in their hearts growing even stronger.

No matter how human-like this thing before them appeared, it was ultimately a powerful Anomaly.

Chen Ye, Sun Xixi, and Xu Lina all had their nerves stretched taut.

The Anomaly before them seemed to be incredibly tall...

Far beyond Xu Lina's normal body proportions.

When it finally stepped out of the darkness, everyone could at last see what the Anomaly truly was.

Earlier, while still in the shadows, it had compressed its height down to that of an ordinary person.

And because of how deep the darkness was, its lower half had never been clearly visible.

But now...

This was a flower with a name no one could put their finger on.

A brand new Anomaly formed from the symbiosis of plant and animal.

At the spot where Xu Lina's waist would be—narrow enough to wrap a hand around—several petals were attached, and beneath those petals were green leaves and stems.

Below that were the flower's roots.

These roots weren't buried in soil. Instead, they crawled slowly along the ground like the legs of a centipede.

No wonder they'd heard that rustling sound earlier—it was those root-like "legs" scraping across the ground as they moved.

And the stamen? That was Xu Lina's upper body.

Horror seized everyone's hearts.

They had never seen a creature like this before.

One after another, they stumbled backward.

The wariness in their eyes deepened even further.

Even the dazed infatuation in Dantai Bie's eyes evaporated completely.

A faint, pleasant fragrance seemed to drift through the air.

Chen Ye immediately held his breath.

"Hehe... don't be nervous. Like I said, I'm a good Anomaly, a good Anomaly!"

"I won't do anything to you!"

"I just want to leave this place with you!"

"I want to go see the outside world!"

"I've been stuck here for way too long!"

"The ugly things here are way too numerous. I'm afraid their ugliness will rub off on me."

Seeing the wariness in everyone's eyes, "Xu Lina" spoke up once more to declare her position.

"If that's how it is, I can't bring you back with me!"

"Maybe you could leave on your own."

Sun Xixi's hand gripped the hilt of the Fire Dragon Sword. If anything went wrong, she wouldn't hesitate to strike a lethal blow.

"Is that so?"

"Xu Lina's" face showed a hint of vexation. After thinking for a moment, she broke into a smile and said, "What if I go with you in a different form? That might work!"

With that, all the petals around the woman's waist spread open at once, then folded shut.

Wrapping her entire upper body inside a flower bud.

Chen Ye and Sun Xixi exchanged a glance, neither of them letting their guard down.

Chen Ye even edged slightly closer to Dantai Bie's position. He needed to protect this outer-circle member of the convoy and shield him from harm.

Dantai Bie was already dumbstruck by "Xu Lina's" transformation.

And in that very instant.

"Xu Lina" had become a flower bud.

What's more, the plant roots of this bud were roughly plunging into the ground.

Keep in mind, most of Xi City's ground had been hardened and paved over.

Even though no one had maintained it for a long time, it was still hardened road surface.

Yet those plant roots encountered zero obstruction in the hardened ground.

They plunged straight into the earth.

As if intending to take root and rest right there.

Then, the next second, the massive flower bud tilted its head slightly upward, facing the sun.

The flower's overall size far exceeded that of an ordinary bloom. In truth, it looked more like a massive tree.

The very next moment...

The bud seemed to shift slightly, loosening just a touch.

And then...

The first petal of human skin began to tremble, then unfurl...

Followed by a second petal of human skin.

Then a third.

The pink petals of human skin radiated breathtaking beauty. Through the sunlight, you could even see the veins and capillaries within them.

One petal after another, after another...

Soon, a massive flower of human skin bloomed before everyone's eyes.

Scenes like this were something they'd only ever seen before in TV shows or movie special effects.

Seeing it with their own eyes was so overwhelming that words failed them entirely.

As the petals of human skin continued to unfold, a bizarre, eerily beautiful flower soon revealed itself to everyone.

When the final few petals of human skin spread open.

That familiar figure appeared once more.

But unlike last time, this "Xu Lina" now possessed a pair of shockingly alluring long legs.

Her entire body was covered in mosaics...

Within those unseen mosaic patches lay a beauty that defied imagination.

"Xu Lina" simply curled up there, eyes tightly shut.

Even her eyelashes radiated stunning beauty.

Then those eyes opened. A single glance was all it took to make you realize just how beautiful this woman was.

Chen Ye and Dantai Bie were utterly transfixed.

Chen Ye stared straight ahead, unblinking.

Dantai Bie, on the other hand, insisted on playing the righteous gentleman and hastily turned his head away.

"Yezi, don't look, don't look!"

For reasons even he couldn't quite explain, seeing Chen Ye staring so intently made Dantai Bie feel like he was the one losing out somehow.

Dantai Bie wanted Chen Ye to stop looking.

Chen Ye refused without the slightest hesitation.

"Mind your own damn business!!! Get out of here!"

Xu Lina, meanwhile, was blushing furiously.

Even though the thing before her was just an Anomaly, there was still an overwhelming sense of awkwardness.

That figure covered in mosaics... looked so much like herself...

Sun Xixi, for her part, furrowed her brows slightly. A hint of anger flickered in her eyes.

The woman in the flower's heart opened her eyes and saw that aside from Dantai Bie turning his head away and Iron Lion being fast asleep, everyone else was staring at her.

She wasn't human, so she naturally felt no sense of shame. She even stretched lazily and openly.

Then...

She smiled sweetly at Sun Xixi and Xu Lina. "Am I pretty?"

Both women blushed slightly, awkwardly averting their eyes.

Only Chen Ye remained completely motionless.

Of course, it wasn't because Chen Ye was overwhelmed by lust.

It was because... what if the enemy chose this moment to attack? If no one on their side was watching, wouldn't they all be dead?

This was for everyone's safety. He had no choice but to look.

This was a matter of public duty, not personal desire!

Whether Dantai Bie believed it or not, Chen Ye himself certainly did.

The human-skin flower that had bloomed moments ago began to contract behind the woman, gradually shrinking until it all flowed back into her body in one go.

Some of the petals even transformed into a piece of clothing that materialized on the woman's body.

The only thing was... the style of that outfit was practically identical to Xu Lina's.

In the middle of this process.

Chen Ye and the others felt that suffocating unease and discomfort in their hearts rapidly receding.

It was as if the woman before them was a real, genuine human being.

The Anomaly aura from before had vanished completely, cleanly, from this woman's body.

The woman spun around in a circle in front of Chen Ye and the others, letting out a tittering laugh:

"So? Can I go to your human base now?"